Portia de Rossi Talks Same-Sex Marriage on "The View"

By Stephanie Vernier

Published: 2009.12.11 03:41 PM

Photo: ABC/BOB D'AMICO

The always lovely Portia de Rossi was the guest on The View last Friday. de Rossi was there to promote the second season of the workplace comedy, Better Off Ted, the season begins December 8th on ABC, but the out actor ended up speaking about same-sex marriage, when inevitably she was challenged by Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the shows most conservative co-host.

Hasselbeck broached the subject with a muddled feminst analogy, "Women want all the rights of men, but they're not asking to be called men.” Adding, “Do you think — is the word “marriage” more important than the rights?”

de Rossi responded, saying, “No, of course the word isn't more important than the rights. But without the word, we don't have equal rights… Marriage the word actually does mean something because people who see a gay coupling as like a lesser thing in society, it can continue to be lesser than marriage when really it's the exact same thing.” Portia is absolutely correct, calling marriage anything but marriage just continues to perpetuate the inequity same-sex couples have been, and continue to fight against.

Saying of her own legally recognized marriage (de Rossi and Degeneres were married during the brief window last year before Prop 8. removed the right of same-sex couples to wed) ,“[it's] a calming and relaxing thing.” She also spoke of the destructive nature of Prop 8 passing, and said marriage “was not a religious issue, or moral issue, just simply a civil rights issue.”

Watch a portion of Portia’s appearance here, and be sure to check out Portia as the hilarious Veronica Palmer on Better Off Ted: